In honour of the late housing rights activist, Irene Grootboom, the Department of Housing has built more than 2 500 housing units for the Wallacedene informal settlement where she lived.
On Thursday, Housing MEC Whitey Jacobs handed over more than 700 housing units as part of the 2 732 units that are being built under the People's Housing Process (PHP) project.
Jacobs also announced the construction of a further 1 177 government-subsidised housing units to go up in the community soon.
Grootboom led 510 children and 390 homeless adults to the Constitutional Court to fight for better housing.
Her struggle led to the landmark Grootboom Constitutional judgment of 2000, which instructed the government to provide adequate and decent housing for the poor.
Despite the benchmark ruling, Grootboom died last year while living in a shack last year, though her housing subsidy was approved in 2005.
Jacobs said he saluted Grootboom for challenging the government in court over housing, and it was a pity she died before she could see the housing projects going up in her community and across the country.
"Irene's legacy was the struggle for better living conditions," Jacobs said, adding the future of South African families rested in better housing.
He warned the beneficiaries not to sell the houses, which he said did not belong to them, but to the taxpayers.
He also cautioned housing contractors who did shoddy work to beware, saying the government was now strict about ensuring quality housing.
Asked if the handover was not a campaign strategy ahead of the elections, Jacobs said that whatever the government was doing now was bound to be seen as electioneering. "We can not sit back because of what people would say, we have to build homes," he said.
- Cape Argus
On Thursday, Housing MEC Whitey Jacobs handed over more than 700 housing units as part of the 2 732 units that are being built under the People's Housing Process (PHP) project.
Jacobs also announced the construction of a further 1 177 government-subsidised housing units to go up in the community soon.
Grootboom led 510 children and 390 homeless adults to the Constitutional Court to fight for better housing.
Her struggle led to the landmark Grootboom Constitutional judgment of 2000, which instructed the government to provide adequate and decent housing for the poor.
Despite the benchmark ruling, Grootboom died last year while living in a shack last year, though her housing subsidy was approved in 2005.
Jacobs said he saluted Grootboom for challenging the government in court over housing, and it was a pity she died before she could see the housing projects going up in her community and across the country.
"Irene's legacy was the struggle for better living conditions," Jacobs said, adding the future of South African families rested in better housing.
He warned the beneficiaries not to sell the houses, which he said did not belong to them, but to the taxpayers.
He also cautioned housing contractors who did shoddy work to beware, saying the government was now strict about ensuring quality housing.
Asked if the handover was not a campaign strategy ahead of the elections, Jacobs said that whatever the government was doing now was bound to be seen as electioneering. "We can not sit back because of what people would say, we have to build homes," he said.
- Cape Argus
No comments:
Post a Comment